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Overanalyzing Anime
Blog Owner & Lead Writer
Ichigo Kurosaki is just a normal teenager. He goes to school, hangs out with his friends, and spends time with his father and two younger sisters. Oh, and he can see spirits.
The Good.
If my score was based solely on effort, Bleach would receive high marks. You can tell that director Shinsuke Sato has a clear understanding of the world which Tite Kubo has created, as he manages to ensure that all aspects of this movie look and feel like the source material. Whether it’s through practical effects - such as the unique character costumes and hairstyle - or through CGI - in regard to the look of the Soul Society, the hollows, and the different characters weapons - all of it is done so well, and it’s honestly one of the best adaptations I’ve seen; in this specific department, anyway.
It really is incredible just how well the actors embody their characters. Lead actors Sota Fukushi and Hana Sugisaki are perfect as Ichigo and Rukia respectively, with their on-screen chemistry being one of the driving forces of the movie. The scenes in which they appear together are some of the best of the movie, so it’s a good thing they’re paired up more often than not. In addition to that duo, it was nice to see Ichigo’s other friends represented properly - whether it’s Chad’s solemn mien, Inoue’s bubbly personality, or Ishida’s arrogance in believing the Quincy are better than Reapers (spoiler alert, they’re not.)
Even the script, which, I admit, takes certain creative liberties that don’t necessarily work, conveys the amount of effort the team put into the piece. While they wanted to pay homage to the source material - even going so far as to perfectly recreate some of the series best moments - they also wanted to provide something new, so that the story wasn’t just a reenactment of what they’ve already seen. While this could have been done much better, the attempt still deserves recognition.
The Bad. (spoilers follow)
Where Bleach starts to fall a part is the way in which it tries to compress so much content into an hour and a half film. Much like with Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach tries to fit an entire arc into a short amount of time, and as such, a lot of it just doesn’t work. The film is forced to rush certain aspects of the story in some instances, and often ignore key characters all together in others. The two prime examples of this are Inoue and Chad, who never get the opportunity to display their own unique abilities and while the film does hint at them being able to sense spiritual beings, it never fully embraces it. If they do decide to move forward with a sequel, I imagine they’ll flesh out their abilities more and we’ll get to finally see their skills in action.
And, speaking of a sequel, this movie subtly hints at the possibility of one with the inclusion of its final scene, wherein Ichigo sees where Rukia had written in his textbook just a few weeks ago. While this should be cause for celebration, it instead just feels confusing. What need is there for a sequel now that Rukia has completed her task and taken her powers back from him Ichigo? Furthermore, she’s erased his memories, and while he may have some latent memory of her, he doesn’t even remember Ishida. It would be even more unlikely that Inoue and Chad, who’s spiritual powers are far less than Ichigo’s, would remember anything that had happened - and I can’t imagine Ichigo would just actively remind the two of them. Furthermore, again I ask, what point would there be in going to the Soul Society anyway? The story doesn’t elude to Rukia having to suffer any consequences as the result of all that’s happened, so Ichigo, in turn, would not have any reason to go after her whatsoever.
The Ugly.
What really solidifies Bleach as being more bad than good is the the way in which is chooses to tackle the issue of the films two (or three) biggest threats, The Grand Fisher and the other Soul Reapers (Renji and Byakuya). The first big misstep is with the Grand Fisher and its new origin. I just don’t understand the point of making the Grand Fisher the soul of a young girl that had become corrupted. It’s strange because it makes the final battle significantly less compelling because Ichigo and company are fighting against a young child, which makes their eventual victory far less rewarding. It would be different if it ended in a way that showed the young girl finding peace after Ichigo delivered the final blow - something akin to the way Inoue’s brother was exorcised in the source material - but that’s never alluded to, so all we have is the hope that she ended up somewhere nice in Soul Society.
But it’s not only the Grand Fisher that’s problematic, it’s also the Soul Reapers. It’s difficult to understand the mindset of the Reapers, on one hand they want to destroy Hollows because they devour human spirits, but on the other hand they are willing to either kill humans (ex. Ichigo) or put their lives in danger (ex. letting Grand Fisher run free while Ichigo trains AND letting the two fight and destroy Karakura town). What makes it worse is that they did all of this just to prove a point. But really, what is the difference between a person and the soul they leave behind after they die? It’s strange that they’d risk their lives to defend one, but not the other. I know that their depiction in the source material isn’t much better, but for some reason it seems even more nonsensical here given the amount of damage done to Karakura Town in the ensuing battle, which could have been ended rather quickly by Renji or Byakuya.
I mentioned before that their attempt at creating something new deserves recognition, and I stand by that, but it doesn’t change the fact that Bleach does a poor job in its execution of those new narrative additions. Almost every aspect of the story that was changed was done for the worse, not the betterment, of the overall narrative. The best part of the movie comes during the first twenty minutes or so, and all of that was essentially a shot for shot remake of the first chapter/episode of the manga/anime. Most everything else just kind of falls flat. The idea that Ichigo needs to train in order to survive the process of having the Reaper powers taken from him, the fact that Renji and Byakukya would have him kill the Grand Fisher for them (only to still plan on killing him after), and the fact that the Grand Fisher waited almost a decade to finally attack Ichigo all doesn’t make any real sense, and only worstens the story as a whole.
Consensus.
Say what you will about the movie, Bleach definitely tries. But, unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that it still, ultimately, fails. If you’re a fan of the anime/manga, then I understand that you have to watch it - and while I imagine there will be certain aspects of it that you love, for the most part you’ll probably be wondering how they could mess up a good thing so badly.
My rating: 5.5/10
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